Woman International Grandmaster (WIG) Ilaha
Kadimova will be the star of the Caribbean Chess Carnival which comes off at
the Queen’s Park Oval, St Clair from August 4-9. Kadimova, former Girls
Under-18 World champion, heads a list of masters due to compete in the
popular annual tournament which attracts senior and junior players from
across the Caribbean. This year, the nine-round Swiss will have an added
interest as, at the highest level, women will be vying against men for the
cash prizes. Among them will be Woman International Master (WIM) Luisa Duran
Reina of Venezuela.

Four International Masters from within the
region are registered to play, including Humberto Pecorelli-Garcia of Cuba
who will be defending his championship title. The others are Julio Ostos of
Venezuela, Gerardo Lebredo of Cuba and Kevin Denny of Barbados. Among the
countries listed to take part in the Chess Carnival are Barbados with a
26-member team, Martinique fielding 18 players, the US and Suriname. Several
of T&T’s top juniors, including Kevin Cupid, U-18 champion; Christian Ammon,
U-12 champion and Justin Labastide, U-8 champion, are expected to compete.
One of Suriname’s promising youngsters, 11-year-old Calvin Tjong Tjin, who
won the U-10 section of the tournament in 2007 and the U-12 category in the
Barbados Open last year, is entered to play this year in the U-20 section.

Born in Gandja, Azerbaidjan, 34 years ago,
Kadimova earned the WIG title in 1994 after a distinguished career as a
junior star. She was the U-18 Girls World Champion in 1992 and 1993;
Champion of USSR in the same age division; Champion of Europe in the U-16
and U-20 categories and World Student Champion. In 1997, Kadimova was ranked
14th among women grandmasters by Fide. Her visit to T&T is historic as she
is the first woman grandmaster to play in a tournament in the country. Duran
Reina is a rising female star in Venezuela, having done well in several
tournaments in the country. Her best performance so far was her victory in
the female section of the 2000 Caribbean and Central American Championships
where she acquired her WIM status.

The Caribbean tournament was launched by
the T&T Chess Foundation in 2003 to bring junior players in the region
together. Due to its success, the event was expanded a few years later to
include an open senior section which has developed into an annual
international event bringing masters from within and outside the region.
With regard to the junior section, the tournament will provide the climax to
a series of monthly tournaments presented by the Foundation during the year
to prepare youngsters for this big event. All participants would benefit
from the event but, according to Edison Raphael, president of the
Foundation, another important objective of the Chess Carnival “is to provide
regional players with an opportunity to acquire and enhance their
international rating without having to play in overseas tournaments which
can be costly.”